Electronic devices may be used in many types of systems and/or applications, such as control systems, data processing systems, medical systems, telecommunication systems and/or communication networks. Electronic devices may include system controllers, servers and/or data acquisition systems, medical imaging systems, central office systems, and/or network devices, such as routers, switches, firewalls, and/or network address translators. For some applications it may be desirable to make electronic devices scalable. For example, a communication network may be expanded to accommodate new users, modified to accommodate new networking protocols and/or types of data traffic, and/or may be reconfigured in response to network attacks and/or natural disasters.
Scalable electronic devices may include a rack system designed to accommodate certain changes. For instance, an electronic device may be configured to include a chassis that accepts removable cards to provide flexibility for accommodating new application requirements. Examples of cards may take the form of removable cards or boards that are configured and adapted for use in an electronic device. In some examples, a card is capable of receiving data from another device and/or capable of making data available to another device.
Rack system systems for electronic components, such as network routers generally include a plurality of slots for individual cards. In some systems, cards that occupy only half of a full-size slot may also be used, such that two “half-size” cards may fit within a full slot. In order to facilitate mounting two half-size cards in a full-size slot, a half-slot card guide is first mounted at the center of the full-size slot to divide the full-size slot into two half-size slots.